Alice Edwards talks about United Nations' work on the prevention of torture across the world

The visit by the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture will be followed by a review of Australia's performance against its anti-torture obligations.

Dr Edwards said all states and territories, including Tasmania, were urged to finalise the legislative paperwork to establish independent visiting bodies with authority to visit any place of detention unannounced and without hindrances.

"Independent bodies are one of the best ways to detect and remedy institutional practices that might incentivise or allow torture to take place," she said.

"It is everyone's business and responsibility to prohibit such cruelty."

The first woman and the first Australian to be appointed Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Edwards is relatively fresh to the role, having been appointed in July.

She came to the position after more than 25 years on working within criminal justice, law enforcement, immigration, asylum and human trafficking areas.

Her work has taken the form of more than 50 publications and reports, many of which deal with refugees and violence against women - including the award-winning Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law.

The posting she has taken with the UN dates back to 1985 after the crises in Chile and Argentina where there was the widespread use of torture, the arbitrary use of detention and enforced disappearances at the time.

Dr Edwards said she was now what was colloquially known as the global voice and conscience against torture.

"I have to say it was a hard fought campaign," she said in getting appointed by the president of the Human Rights Council

"It had been 37 years with only men in the mandate and so there was a concerted campaign by especially women's rights activists, but also the broader non-government organisation and anti-torture community, to get a woman in the position."

Dr Edwards' role requires her to look at new ways to prevent and respond to torture, undertaking diplomacy allowing for country visits, and considering appeals of mistreatment by people to intervene on their behalf with their government.

She said there appeared to be a growing complacency over the past years around torture.

"We see increasingly that even in the developed world with the best rule of law and criminal justice systems, there are serious pockets of problems and it's not just in the context of armed conflict," Dr Edwards said.

Dr Edwards said vounteering for the Red Cross in Hobart during the final year of a law degree was an eye-opening experience for her.

"You can walk around in your own community and not realise the difficulties that people are facing on an everyday basis," she said.

Soon enough she found herself travelling in South Africa following Apartheid, fulfilling a desire to explore the history and politics of the place in person.

From there she took up a position in Mozambique with an American NGO.

Within a few years, she was in post-conflict Bosnia, which at the time was relatively unstable with reports of attacks on locals and NATO airstrikes continuing over Kosovo, just over the border.

It was here where she obtained much experience in the system of helping displaced people and victims of torture integrate into society as well as helping expelled people return home and providing shelter for new refugees.

"The first Kosovars that arrived were housed in this abandoned Coca-Cola factory with no heating and it was freezing cold - snowing outside," Dr Edwards said.

"It was a full warehouse with blankets set up to separate themselves from one another.

"That was the first refugee camp that I'd ever visited.

"It was pretty desperate, pretty grim.

"They were being rehoused elsewhere, but no one wants to ever be a refugee, I can tell you."

Entering dangerous situations and witnessing the darker sides of humanity can be a taxing job.

Dr Edwards said she felt from a young age an inner belief for equality and justice for all people, which sustains her to this day.

"I just don't understand the desire to be greater than anyone else," she said.

"We are all human beings, we are all imperfect."

Dr Edwards had taken a break from work with the United Nations before her recent appointment as she needed a rest from the work.

But she said she, like other humanitarian professionals, carried a guilt from pursuing some of the more simple and beautiful things in life when so many were unable to.

"It was Russia's invasion of Ukraine that made me realise that I'm not ready to step away and maybe I'll never be able to," Dr Edwards said.

"I've met so many amazing people who are victims and survivors and it's hard to forget them.

"You can never forget their stories - their stories of the worst things that have happened to them in their lives, but their courage really affects you.

"Once you've been touched by these circumstances, it's very hard to let it rest."

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